Fixation: The fixing process is important to me theoretically because it’s a cross cutting term. Fixing suggests that capture is not just a matter of direct representation but of representation in a particular way. So, in so much as platforms, or networks of platforms, capture and fix, they do so with a certain plan. In as […]
For businesses building digital platforms capture is both a technical and social problem and invitation is one way of addressing it. How do you build technologies that efficiently allow any user (young, older, in North America or in Africa) to capture various facets of social life? The technological answer to the problem is not necessarily […]
When I was in graduate school in STS we read Langdon Winner’s Do Artifacts Have Politics, an excerpt from his book, The Whale and The Reactor. If you’re not familiar with it, the piece is often remembered for its analysis of bridges, or more accurately overpasses along the way to Jones Beach NY. Langdon’s telling […]
There’s lots to like about Lawrence Lessig’s book, Code 2.0—particularly, I find, the distinction he draws between “East Coast Code” (i.e., the law) and “West Coast Code” (i.e., computer hardware and software). He sees both as modes of bringing order to complex systems, albeit through different means. Lessig is also interested in the ways in […]
I’m really excited to share my new essay, “The Relevance of Algorithms,” with those of you who are interested in such things. It’s been a treat to get to think through the issues surrounding algorithms and their place in public culture and knowledge, with some of the participants in Culture Digitally (here’s the full litany: Braun, Gillespie, Striphas, Thomas, […]